The Marcal Paper Products plant (Elmwood Park, New Jersey), destroyed by fire on January 30, 2019, was located just a few miles south of Fire Engineering‘s Fair Lawn office. Preplanning and firefighting in mill construction has been a recurring topic in the magazine. Check out a selection of articles spanning more than a century.
Industrial insurers recognized the value of designing and equipping these industrial behemoths for fire safety and resistance, as seen HERE, HERE, HERE, and HERE.
Articles over the years have described the difficult task of fighting and containing such fires. See a 1969 firefight that occurred in Massachusetts HERE. A 1990 article outlines the problems encountered in fighting fires in a paper plant HERE. A report on a fire engulfing a Philadelphia, Pennsylvania structure in 1992 is HERE, along with a sidebar on “Mill Construction” HERE. Renovation of old mill buildings is considered HERE. The decline of industry led to many of these structures to stand vacant and neglected for a time. In this 2014 article, a fire involving an abandoned Camden, New Jersey factory complex is described HERE.
